The present invention relates to an improved glass break repair kit, apparatus and method. It is an improvement over U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,478.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,478, glass breaks or cracks in automobile windshields were repaired, substantially restoring the visibility through the glass, obviating very expensive and time consuming replacement of the entire glass which includes the break or crack.
The repair in glass breaks or cracks overcome the rough edges of the area and the crack striations refracting light in patterns different from the normal refraction of the glass, impeding or destroying the normal visibility of the glass. The windshield is made of safety glass.
Safety glass is usually a lamination of two plates of glass sandwiching a transparent binder. A crack in a windshield usually only affects the outer plate of the lamination and does not go through the entire lamination. The transparent binder is usually ultraviolet light impervious.
The glass breaks were filled with transparent resin which protected the formerly broken areas and which substantially restored the visibility to the repaired area. The repair included a pedestal mountable over a break. The pedestal received a syringe which was sealed to the pedestal and was used to fill the crack with mixed transparent resin with a timed curing agent. In the past, the simplicity of the use of a syringe with a pedestal and its efficiency for pumping and drawing vacuum was a great advance in the technology.
The flange on the pedestal served as an effective interface between the seal and the glass with the break.
The present invention is an improvement of U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,478 for performing a repair with a light curable resin. The elements of the present invention are particularly adaptable for sale and display in a kit in a blister pack.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,603 shows a similar glass repair system employing a pre-filled light curable resin in a syringe. The syringe is mechanically and physically limited in its ability to create a pressure and/or vacuum.
According to the present invention, a repair kit, apparatus and method include a syringe, pedestal, seal and light curable resin in a dispenser for the repair of a break in safety glass. The invention is an improvement over U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,478.
In one embodiment the present invention enables the repair kit, apparatus and method to repair breaks in a windshield""s glass, outside in ambient light, employing a light curable resin. The light curable resin is selected to cure in normal daylight. The elements of the present invention allow normal working of the repair, protecting the resin until the steps for repair are completed, before being fully exposed to the normal curing daylight or a selected curing light.
The syringe does not have to be loaded with the curing resin. The syringe has the prior art multiple use of the plunger for drawing of vacuum and creating pressure without the fouling by the introduction of the resin and is reusable.
The apparatus includes a pedestal with a flange and a chamber. The chamber has two openings, one of the openings is in the flange, the other opening functionally receives a syringe in airtight engagement. The chamber is of sufficient size to act as a reservoir for glass repair resin. An adhesive seals the pedestal in airtight engagement over a break in glass. The pedestal is opaque. The pedestal as used in the present invention may be reusable.
The method for repairing a break in glass includes the steps of providing an opaque pedestal including a flange and a chamber. The chamber is of sufficient size to act as a reservoir for the glass repair resin. The chamber has two openings, one opening in the flange, the other opening functionally engagable with the syringe which includes a plunger with a stem. The stem may or may not include a retaining means. A valve means is provided. No resin is intended to engage in the syringe.
The flange and the chamber of the pedestal are opaque. The pedestal is adhesively sealed at its flange in airtight engagement over a break in glass with the chamber in substantial communication with the glass break. Glass repair resin is placed in the chamber from a resin dispensing container. The valve is engaged, airtight between the chamber and the syringe. The plunger is selectively actuated with regard to the body of the syringe so that the valve can communicate the syringe with the chamber to seal the syringe so that a vacuum is created and the resin is drawn into the break in the glass.
One method includes the steps of transferring the resin into the pedestal chamber, removing the excess resin and providing a smooth outer surface of the repair and curing the resin.
The repair can be performed with resin, including an ultraviolet light hardening initiator or natural light initiator. Curing can be in natural light, or with ultraviolet light, depending upon the weather conditions and the initiator in the resin.
Curing of a resin with ultraviolet may be induced with an ultraviolet lamp. Ultraviolet curing cannot be effected from the inside of the windshield, since the liner of the safety glass is ultraviolet impervious. A natural light windshield repair from inside the windshield may be effected where the resin includes a natural light initiator and may also include an ultra violet light initiator. The ultraviolet initiator is passive to the ambient light.
There is a distinct advantage in effecting a repair from the inside of the windshield, since a natural light repair then starts the curing at the outer edges of the repair, thus, maximizing the amount of resin cured about the break and drawing a maximum amount of resin to fill all of the break. The inside repair requires use of the opaque resin dispensing container and pedestal. The pressure also protects against uncured resin from flowing the from some breaks.
The greater amount of resin in the break, the less possibility of unwanted refraction of the light from the repaired area. The repair is also more secure.
The provision of a resin with both ultraviolet initiator and natural light initiator does not affect the ability to perform the ultraviolet repair, which can only be performed from the outside of the windshield, since the liner is impervious to ultraviolet.
A windshield repair, with natural light or the non ultraviolet light source on the inside of the windshield, in the vehicle, better enables more and effective pressure and vacuum, filling resin into the break from the outside of the break and enables curing from the outer edge of the break, thus drawing more resin onto the repair.
The light source repair from inside the windshield, may also be effected under higher vacuum and/or pressure, using the vacuum and pressure accumulation, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,883.